Judge Denies Bail For Suspect In 4 Slayings

July 11, 1985|By Roger Roy of The Sentinel Staff

An Orange County man accused of murdering his 5-year-old daughter, ex- wife and two other women will not be granted bail because investigators have sufficient evidence to hold him in jail until his trial, a judge ruled Wednesday.

Jerry Correll had asked County Judge Charles Prather to allow his release on $5,000 bail. But during a hearing Wednesday, two sheriff's investigators testified that three bloody fingerprints inside the home where the victims were found murdered July 1 have been positively identified as Correll's.

Detective Tom McCann also said investigators have found no evidence to support Correll's claim that he was with a woman he met at a bar the night of the killings.

Correll, 29, did not testify and sat quietly through the hearing, which was held under heavy security with court deputies searching all spectators before allowing them into the courtroom.

Correll's ex-wife Susan, 25, his daughter Tuesday, mother-in-law Mary Lou Hines, 48, and his sister-in-law Marybeth Jones, 29, were found stabbed to death in Hines' home at 3004 Tampico Drive in Conway, south of Orlando.

McCann testified that one fingerprint linked to Correll was found on a wall next to a thermostat, which he said had been turned to its lowest setting, apparently to help preserve the bodies. The second print was in the hallway outside the bedroom of the daughter, and the third was on a dresser in the ex-wife's room, McCann said.

McCann said Correll, who was arrested the day after the bodies were found, told investigators he was with a woman he met at the ABC lounge on Orange Avenue at Lancaster Road when the four were killed.

Correll the woman's name was June or Junie, but he did not know her last name, McCann said.

McCann said a bartender at the lounge told investigators that Correll came to the bar alone that night, talked to no one, and left alone.

Lt. Jim Murray, a sheriff's department forensic expert, said the three fingerprints he identified as Correll's were left in blood. He said there were other bloody prints throughout the house, but said they were too smeared to identify.

Assistant State Attorney Ray Sharpe said Correll should not be released from jail because of ''the weight of the evidence'' and because Correll does not have strong enough ties to the area.

But Assistant Public Defender Peter Kenny said investigators failed to prove that Correll's fingerprints were made at the time of the murders. He said Correll, who had liberal visitation rights to his daughter and who frequently went to the home, might have left the prints before the killings.